How to Configure Tp Link TL MR3020

In this post you will learn to setup and configure TP-Link TL-MR3020 router by focusing on network customization and setting security parameters. The same guide applies to MR3040 and most of the TP-Link routers. This is very essential that you change the default network settings to get better secured environment and protection.

How to Configure Tp Link TL MR3020

Step 1: Let’s get connected

Note: You can skip this step if you already can access Admin page.

Connect your router and start it via power adapter or USB, whatever way you like. It doesn’t matter, either you are using it first time or already running a non-customized network, this guide will help both kind of users.

After starting the router and searching for wireless network on your system, you may see this screen;

If you don’t see the same screen, then don’t panic as this is dependent of hardware and firmware version. Your network may appear security-enabled or unsecured. It doesn’t matter at this step.

Click connect.

Now open your browser and go to admin page of the router by entering the IP address of router;

192.168.0.254

Again, your router may have different IP address which is a less seen case but possible. You can find it on router itself along with default network key, login name and password (and this is why we have to change everything as anyone can gain access).

You should see the login page as below;

Enter default login and password. It is ‘admin’ for both in most of the cases. If your router says different, then enter that and hit login to get to Router Control or Administration page.

I have highlighted some important things for you. The blinded area is MAC address of your system which is currently connected to network and accessing router admin page. Never make it public.

Step B: Let’s customize

1. Disabling WPS.

Click on WPS option present on sidebar. WPS helps you connect any device by just pressing the WPS button present on router. It is designed for quick access and network keys are not necessary in most cases. However, I don’t like this option as there is default WPS key written on router itself. This kills the whole purpose of secured network.

First click on Get new PIN or Change PIN and then disable it. After this, you must reboot and re-login to admin page.

2. Changing SSID (Network Name)

Now, who doesn’t like to have personalized network name? Click on ‘Wireless’ option and then on ‘Wireless Settings’. You will get this page.

Change Wireless Network Name to whatever you like. Just make it classy and nice. Then change the region to your country. Then there is Channel. Channel ‘6’ is used by almost every router. So, avoid interference and increase performance just change it to whatever you like. I selected ’11’ as it less used. Change the Channel Width to to 40MHz and leave the Mode as it is.

Caution: Many old systems doesn’t recognize channels above 11. Make sure about yours before changing it to 12 or 13 or you may need to hard reset the router and start again.

Even if notified by router, don’t do a reboot yet.

3. Strengthening Wireless Security

Click on Wireless Security option. Select WPA/WPA2 Personal. For Version, select WPA-2 Personal and Encryption should be AES. In password section, enter a desired complex but memorable password. This is your Network Key. Note it down if you want. Click on Save. Now you will need to reboot. You can do also do it from System Tools >> Reboot.

4. Re-connecting to Router

As SSID, Network Key is changed you won’t be able to connect to same old network with same key. Click on Wi-fi icon near clock on taskbar and click on ‘Change Advanced Settings’. Go to second tab ‘Wireless Network’ and remove previous network from list and hit OK.

As soon as router is booted, it will show your new network. Hit connect and enter your password (Network Key) for it. It should connect without issue. Login to Admin page again using same IP.

5. Limiting access to router by MAC address

Click on ‘Local Management’ present under Security option on router’s admin page. Select ‘Only PCs listed…’ option and then click ‘Add’ button present at end line ‘Your PC’s MAC address’. Hit save. Due to this setting, only your current PC will be able to access router’s Admin area page. Please note this doesn’t affect internet access for other systems. It is only for Admin area.

6. Changing the username and password

Remember ‘admin’ as username and password to access administration area of router? You should definitely change it for better security.

Click on System Tools and then on Password. Enter Old Username and Password, which is ‘admin’ for both. Then enter your new desired Username and Password in change fields. Hit save and don’t reboot.

7. Changing the access port of TL-MR3020

Click on ‘Remote Management’ under same Security option. Put a new port address for it. Then save it. I have entered ‘810’. What it does? Generally you could access router page by only entering it’s IP. Actually, it’s default port is 80 which is standard of internet. By changing this no won’t be able to access by entering only IP. This will be new link;

192.168.0.254:810

After changing this setting you will need to reboot. Make sure you type access link as shown above.

8. Backup and Restore

So this was exhausting. Trust me, security never can’t be taken as granted and it is not easy. Make a Backup of this setting so if you or your angry child ever hard reset router, you can restore everything whatever you have done till now in a minute.

Go to ‘Backup and Restore’ and Click on Backup.Save this file to a secured location. You can restore it via this page again to get same SSID, network key, all passwords and security.

9. Some other security checks

Click on Security and make sure all Basic security measure are Enabled. You can also Enable DDOS protection under Advanced Security. For this to work you will need to start Traffic Statistic logs present under System Tools.

There is also Parental and Bandwidth control options to control IP addresses accessing the internet. Your kids may not get happy about it. Just make sure not to add your main system to it by mistake. That would be a blunder. 🙂

51 Comments

Gyan

Ruplim

August 12, 2013 at 12:22 pm

Hi I got a TP-LINK TL-MR3020 few days back and m struggling to make it work. I am using a wired connection for accessing internet. My OS is Windows 8. I followed the user guide[Appendix B: configuring the PCs] to configure the IP address manually. I am able to connect to the Router web management console. I am using AP mode in the Router. Now I modified the IP of the router to the static IP provided by the ISP and rebooted. But I am unable to connect to internet. Any pointers will be helpful Thanks Ruplim

Kiran

August 16, 2013 at 12:06 am

Not able to change SSID (Local, which is displayed) as it is asking to define the client SSID also which is in top portion. I want to change the network name to customized, but it is not allowing to change without defining the top portion BSSID

Sharavana

Sharavana

October 4, 2013 at 11:32 am

Purchased TP-LINK TL-MR3020 3G/4G Wireless N Router few days back. I have Windows Vista Home Basic OS in my Laptop. Steps I followed. 1. Switched on the WiFi router through wall connection.(Once I tried with USB 4G dongle, later without dongle) 2. Switched on the WiFi of my Laptop. 3. Found the WiFi link as Security Enabled Network. 4. Clicked connect. 5. After few seconds, it has asked for Security Pass Phrase. When I gave a passkey, it has said that as invalid. I don’t understand what should be done. Could you please help me? Thanks in advance. Sharavana.

hi ,my router was working since lat two months.but 2 days back all of a sudden it stopped working.I have checked my 3G dongle connceting to PC Its working.
Dont know how to resolve the issue please help

It is very tough for me to answer this on very less info. Can you please tell me that Router lights are responding or not? Number of lights? Is router working but not accepting the dongle? I mean what is the problem exactly?

Hi Amol. Thank you for writing. You will need to wait for a while as I don’t have a primary Wifi with internet to repeat its network using MR3020. Most probably this saturday. If you want you can just download the manual from TP-LINK site. Google for “MR3020 Manual”. Regards.

Raghu

January 25, 2014 at 6:23 pm

Dear Mrinal,

Please write about Repeater mode. The regular manual doesn’t work. There is nothing about it on internet. I saw above comment. I can see that many people desperately needs it but no one gives a damn about it.

Ranjit

1. Switched on the WiFi router.
2. Switched on the WiFi of my Laptop.
3. Found the TP-LINK_POCKET_***** WiFi link as Security Enabled Network.
4. Clicked connect.
5. After few seconds, it has asked for Security Pass Phrase. Is there any default pass phrase?
I tried to give a passkey, now its showing “Acquiring network Address” and its not connecting to the network .
6. Then I cleared all my networks and reset my router still I am unable to connect.
7. Then I provided the ip address and subnet mask manually then its able to connect to the wifi but can not access the 192.168.0.254.

Mrinal Buddekar

March 1, 2014 at 8:17 am

Hi Ranjit, I hope you have worked it out till now. If not, then this will help. Network is asking for default network key which is present on router. First clear out all Wi-fi settings from laptop. This means any network you have stored or given password for. Then reset the router as you never know if someone has set password on it or not. Then try to connect to network as you did previously. Network will ask for network key. This is a default network key which you can find written on router (see sides of router). This is generally in form of numbers 6-10 digits long. When you enter it, you can login to admin page and then change this key with yours. Let me know.

Mrinal Buddekar

March 9, 2014 at 3:56 pm

You may have locked yourself out using firewall or admin password which you forgot. You will need to reset the router and start again. Press and hold the WPS key on router for 5-10 seconds. Router will restart and restore to factory settings.

Mrinal Buddekar

April 13, 2014 at 5:10 am

Hi Prasanna. I hope you have solved this by now. This is a common thing if you are using Windows 7. You will need to Shutdown the wifi of system and then remove any network added to list. Also, reset the Router and start fresh. Then restart the system and try to connect. It will work.

tomaszek

April 19, 2014 at 10:06 pm

Hi, I have upgraded firmware of my TP-LINK TL-MR3020 3G/4G Wireless N Router to newest version (mr3020nv1_en_3_17_2_up_boot(140408).bin). Now I cannot turn the wireless off (the option was present in my previous firmware). I DON’T WANT THE WIRELESS WORKING ALL THE TIME. Is anything I could do except installing openWrt or loading back the old firmware?

Mrinal Buddekar

April 20, 2014 at 9:41 am

Sorry, I am unable to understand you clearly. Are you saying about ‘Idle Time out’ option? It is still there on 3G/4G config page. You have to select the time of inactivity after which internet will be disconnected. Let me know.

Vikram Manghnani

April 25, 2014 at 1:56 pm

Hi Mrinal, excellent review. Just bought a tp link 3020 and will be connecting it with a Vodafone 3G dongle. Hopefully, things will be smooth sailing with all your help and tips. Will let you how it goes. Thank you..cheers, Vikram

Rain

May 2, 2014 at 5:11 pm

Hi, I just bought this TP-Link TL-MR3020, my 3G modem wi-tribe is not on the list of mobile ISP supported by this. I tried to set it up manually but the format is asking for a Dial number, APN , Username and PW which I dont know.. Is there a way to set it up? thanks

Mrinal Buddekar

May 7, 2014 at 11:10 am

Hi Rain, Sorry for delay in reply. I hope you have set it up by now. If not please follow this. Dial number, APN, User and Pwd are the details of your ISP. In most cases they are blank (except dialing number). You can easily find all these details in your actual modem dialer screen. Try to find Profile or something in connection settings of the dialer application (the app which opens when you directly connect modem to PC). Copy those and paste them here. It will work. Another way is to Google it out.

Mrinal Buddekar

Rajesh

June 18, 2014 at 3:40 am

Hi Mrinal,

I bot TP LInk MR 3020 and tried to connect thru following steps
1. Connected the router to my laptop thru USB cable (without wifi enabled in my laptop) and not even plugged the lan wire into the router.
2. Opened the browser (chrome, IE is not working for me) and entered 192.168.0.254.

Mrinal Buddekar

June 21, 2014 at 12:57 pm

Hi Rajesh, Sorry for delay. This is not a correct process. It is not an USB modem. You can only charge the Wireless router using USB. You will need to connect it using Wifi as it is a Wifi Router. If you want to configure it over the LAN cable then that it is a tough one as it is not designed to. Regards

Subhash

July 4, 2014 at 3:08 pm

Using the step-by-syep guidance provided in your post my PC is connected to router. On router page, it also show status as “IDENTIFIED” for 3G dongle…but does not connet to it. Not sure what is wrong. It is not letting the PC connect to Internet….

Mrinal Buddekar

July 4, 2014 at 4:59 pm

Hi Subhash, You need to manually edit the access point. Go to 3G settings and manually edit the access point to your network carrier. You can settings from the internet by Googling. Mainly APN and number is important. Sometime Username and password is also there but mostly these fields are blank. Let me know.

Jonny

July 8, 2014 at 4:22 pm

Hi Mrinal, thanks for the nice article,

1. managed to make my dock work but I am feeling that the connection speed when browsing router page is too slow sometimes although it is not far, I am thinking of upgrading to latest firmware from 140321 to 140610, from your tests what do you think is the best firmware ver., does 140610 have problems ?

2. a stupid question, is it possible to connect a wireless adapter to the USB 3G/4G port ?

Mrinal Buddekar

July 8, 2014 at 5:00 pm

Hi Jonny, Thank you for commenting. If you have activated the router firewall then it will take sometime. Also, the firewall of your system must allow the IP address without any limitations and long checks. Please check your antivirus also. If this doesn’t help then try to switch the Channel to 10 or 11 with different bandwidth. Sometimes experiments pay-off 🙂 Regarding firmware, the latest is not always best. However, as I checked into latest codes of TP-Link, I found they are very stable. So, please go ahead with those as they may address and fix some bugs. …and… no question is stupid. There are only stupid answers. 🙂 Regards

JRL

Raghav

August 4, 2014 at 11:42 am

Hi Mrinal,

Recently bough MR-3020, able to configured it and it is working fine when am connected the cable to the laptop. But it is not working when am connecting router to power socket. Can you please help me with this.

Mrinal Buddekar

Rishan

September 13, 2014 at 2:48 pm

I got a new 3020 model, and i connected it to a power socket, reliance dongle, lan cable. Its not getting connected to internet through my desktop. How to make it work?? How to get it connected to the internet? windows 7..

Mrinal Buddekar

September 14, 2014 at 7:14 am

Power socket is ok. But Why the dongle and LAN cable both? It is a LAN to Wifi and Dongle to Wifi router. Not dongle to LAN or USB. You need to put input from one connection either LAN or dongle and then use it over Wifi. Regards

Frushal

SATYAPRIYA

December 22, 2015 at 6:25 am

Hello I recently purchased a TP Link MR3020 Wifi router and I have a reliance Netconnect Plus AC2738 modem. The modem connects to internet without any problem with my laptop if I plug it directly to my laptop, but when I try to connect to it using the router , I am not getting the internet access. In the administration page my modem status is showing identified and all of my devices are getting connected to the wifi network but no internet access. Can you please help me in solving this issue.

Mrinal Buddekar

December 22, 2015 at 3:29 pm

Hi Satyapriya.
Thank you for writing. MR3020 supports majority of modems. Look at this page http://www.tp-link.com/en/support/3g-comp-list/?model=TL-MR3020&location=1151 . Here it says that AC2738 is supported. If it is identified then the problem might be settings. To solve this,
1. Connect your modem directly to PC. Launch the dialer and go to Connection settings.
2. Note down APN, Number and other details
3. Now Connect modem to Router and fire it up.
4. Go to Admin page and navigate to Connection settings. Change Automatic to Manual settings. Enter all settings as was in dialer. Save.
5. Restart the Router. It should work.
Let me know.

senthil

May 23, 2017 at 10:39 am

tp link 3020 I forget the password how to reset that, I was try to re configure in offline 192.168.0.1 but its not responding, so please anyone explain for reset that one. if you have any manual provide me. it better to understand further reset.

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